One thought on “Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry, America's Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do about It”

Good info, but I object to their proposed solutions. There is no need for the government to tax unhealthy foods; just stop subsidizing them. Restriciting advertising to children was the only one I could honestly agree with. The rest smacked of too much government intervention in people's lives. And the government is part of what caused the problem; I have no faith that they will solve the problem. It's up to people to solve it for themselves, with local issues.

A really eye opening book. I swear I might never drink another soft drink again! Maybe ;)but seriously it is quite disturbing the effect that the food industry is having on our society and our children. It is of the utmost importance to my husband and I that we raise our child with healthy eating habits, limit her TV watching, and keep her physically active. It is hard work, especially when she goes to other households, parties, etc and junk food is everywhere. Sadly she can even point out the D [...]

This book hopes to explain why the world is currently facing a childhood obesity crsis. It places blame on multimedia and national apathy, rather than on individual action. While most of the authors points are well made and researched, the book covers material that has been widely available to most North Americans. Solutions are suggested, but some are not well thought out, and perpetuate other social and global concerns such as child labour in third world countries. While educational, this is n [...]

Well. If this book didn't exactly predict the future I'd love for them to do an update/follow up to measure the effectiveness of all their proposed solutions as they materialized. Otherwise, it's somewhat repetitive. But that's common with reference like books. It annoys me when they reference the authors experience and say "one of us (kb)". It seems rude to other contributor. Nor does it matter which of you did whatever. The parallels to the tobacco industry are compelling.

Obesity, poor diet, and lack of physical activity are a world epidemic. The list of diseases they cause is long. America leads the way and other countries should learn from us before it’s too late for them. Suburban sprawl and common use of energy-saving devices are at the root of the physical activity crisis and attacking it first is suggested as central to solving the others. Changing people’s behavior by exhortation is not likely to affect it much so greater incentives must be instituted [...]

Kelly Brownell is a well-respected researcher in the field of obesity and he writes here about how today’s “toxic” food environment—polluted by the actions of both government and the food industry—has contributed to the obesity epidemic. His writing style is friendly and the book is aimed at health activists, both professionals and consumers. He describes the problem--which seems overwhelming--and then suggests plans of action. Admittedly, these seem a little overwhelming, too. But thi [...]

This is an essential book for anyone interested in preventing obesity and fighting the obesity epidemic and its related diseases. The book includes comprehensive information on measures taken by states, cities, and organizations, and recommends action based on the results of these studies. You will be shocked and angered by the statistics in this book, and, hopefully, will be motivated to stop this heartbreaking epidemic.

This book provides an excellent foundation for a reader interested in learning more about obesity, food politics, and/or the food industry. Almost 10 years old, many of Brownell's predictions have come true; both the good and the bad have come to pass. Other books provide deeper insight into the different components of the food industry and nutrition, but this serves as a fabulous introduction.

This book gave me a lot of the same information found in the documentary Supersize Me, so either Morgan Spurlock consulted a lot with this author or she was inspired by the film to write the book(I haven't bothered to look at the dates on either). At times it felt like she was repeating herself, but overall, there was a lot of valuable information included.

This book explains how Big Food is making America fat by increasing portion sizes, making food very cheap, marketing to children and selling very high-fat, high-sugar foods. Some of the authors suggestions for fixing this I find ridiculous.

I enjoyed the book, but think it could have been condensed and still provided the reader with key information. Especially towards the end, the points the author was making were very repetitive and I started to zone out.

The book is a bit out of date, although many of the problems discussed are still pressing. There were lots of ideas for solving the nations obesity crisis, some more practical than others. However, the book was very repetitive which made it drag at times.

I have problems with the "OMG! OBESITY CRISIS!" tone of this book and so much of the media (see Big Fat Blog and many others for a different view), but this had a lot of devastating information on unhealthy foods and how they're marketed. Worthwhile for anyone really into the politics of food.

Informative. Lots of interesting statistics. First half of the book was much more interesting than the second half. Second half felt a little repetitive. Second half would of held my attention better if it was condensed.